Microsoft Nixes Channel Partners for Surface Pro Debut

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Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Surface Pro tablet (read The VAR Guy’s review) will go on sale Feb. 9 at the vendor’s retail stores in the United States and Canada, retailers Staples and Best Buy and online in a distribution strategy mirroring the one it deployed for its Surface RT device.
In short, that means channel partners are left out of the mix. It’s difficult to figure why but that’s the deal, at least for now.
Surface Pro configured with 64GB of storage will be priced starting at $899, some $70 higher than Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) asking price for a similarly equipped iPad. The 12
(IT news)

Right now the only yardstick Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) channel partners have to gauge whether the software-turned-hardware giant will let them sell the impending Surface Pro tablet is what’s happened (actually, what hasn’t happened) so far with Surface RT–as in nothing, nada, zilch for the channel. By that measure, partners’ chances to sell Surface Pro aren’t promising.